RESEARCH DEPARTMENT REPORT SERIES no. 69-2011 ISSN 1749-8775 PLAITERS’ LEA CONSERVATION AREA, LUTON HISTORIC AREA ASSESSMENT Katie Carmichael and David McOmish with David Grech Research Department Report Series 069- 2011 PLAITERS’ LEA CONSERVATION AREA LUTON HISTORIC AREA ASSESSMENT Katie Carmichael and David McOmish with David Grech NGR: TL 09232 21447 © English Heritage ISSN 1749-8775 The Research Department Report Series incorporates reports from all the specialist teams within the English Heritage Research Department: Archaeological Science; Archaeological Archives; Historic Interiors Research and Conservation; Archaeological Projects; Aerial Survey and Investigation; Archaeological Survey and Investigation; Architectural Investigation; Imaging, Graphics and Survey, and the Survey of London. It replaces the former Centre for Archaeology Reports Series, the Archaeological Investigation Report Series and the Architectural Investigation Report Series. Many of these are interim reports which make available the results of specialist investigations in advance of full publication. They are not usually subject to external refereeing, and their conclusions may sometimes have to be modified in the light of information not available at the time of the investigation. Where no final project report is available, readers are advised to consult the author before citing these reports in any publication. Opinions expressed in Research Department reports are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of English Heritage. Requests for further hard copies, after the initial print run, can be made by emailing: [email protected] or by writing to: English Heritage, Fort Cumberland, Fort Cumberland Road, Eastney, Portsmouth PO4 9LD Please note that a charge will be made to cover printing and postage. © ENGLISH HERITAGE 069 - 2011 SUMMARY The Plaiters’ Lea Conservation Area lies on the northern fringes of the commercial district in central Luton, Bedfordshire. It is sandwiched between the railway station to the north and the Arndale on the south and was, historically, predominantly associated with straw and felt hat making. Although the integrity of the Conservation Area has been compromised by more recent development, the majority of the surviving buildings are (or were) related to the production, storage, sale and distribution of hats as well as related trades such as dyeing and bleaching, ribbon making, box making or transport. Many are now being used as business premises unrelated to hat making, others have been converted for domestic use, but the area retains the character of an artisanal quarter in much the same way as the Birmingham Jewellery quarter or the Northampton Boot and Shoe quarter. Geographically, the Conservation Area covers a small area, just under 4.5 hectares, with a hub at the crossroad intersection between Guildford Street and Bute Street - each route hosting former hat factories and showrooms, many embellished with impressive façades. This historic area assessment seeks to define the architectural and historic value and significance of the Conservation Area and its immediate hinterland in order to place it at the heart of current regeneration proposals for the town centre. The project has been logged as RaSMIS number 6085 and fits SHAPE criteria as sub-programme number 11111.150 Understanding Place: Assessing Historic Areas. CONTRIBUTORS Fieldwork, research and report writing were undertaken by Katie Carmichael and David McOmish. Kathryn Morrison provided guidance on the scope and content of the report and edited the text. John Ette, Tom Gilbert-Wooldridge, David Grech, and Clare Campbell provided additional guidance as part of the Project Board. Thanks are also due to Jacqueline Veater and Gemma Pike, Luton Borough Council, for their support and advice. Graphics were produced by Allan Adams and David McOmish. Photography was undertaken by Steve Cole. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to extend our thanks to Stephen Coleman, Central Bedfordshire HER and Nigel Lutt, Archivist, Bedfordshire County Council, for their help and support with this project. Special thanks to Elizabeth Adey, Veronica Main and Chris Grabham at Wardown Park Museum, Luton, for their guidance and generous offer to read and comment on the text. ARCHIVE LOCATION National Monuments Record Centre, The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2EH. For further information see: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk DATE OF ASSESSMENT November 2010 to June 2011 CONTACT DETAILS Katie Carmichael (nee Carmichael), Architectural Investigation, English Heritage, 24 Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge, CB2 8BU. Telephone: 01223 582782. email [email protected] © ENGLISH HERITAGE 069 - 2011 © ENGLISH HERITAGE 069 - 2011 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE: OVERVIEW 7 LOCATION AND SETTING 9 THE HATTING INDUSTRY 11 i) Development of the industry 11 ii) The straw hatting process 13 iii) Felt Hat Manufacture 18 iv) Workers 18 Plaiting 18 Hatting 20 v) Organisation and trade 21 vi) Decline 22 PART TWO: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF LUTON AND THE PLAITERS’ LEA CONSERVATION AREA 25 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF LUTON 27 i) Early History and Archaeology 27 ii) Luton in the post-Conquest period 28 iii) Town morphology and the development of Plaiters’ Lea Hatting Quarter 29 PART THREE: THE CHARACTER OF THE PLAITERS’ LEA CONSERVATION AREA 39 CHARACTER 41 i) Early factories and related premises; other industrial buildings c.1840 - 1880 44 ii) Continued expansion of the industry c.1880 - c.1905 52 iii) The Edwardian era and the First World War c.1905-1918 60 iv) Buildings of the inter-war years 63 v) Post Second World War developments 67 vi) Summary 69 PART FOUR: DISTINCTIVENESS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PLAITERS’ LEA CONSERVATION AREA 71 DISTINCTIVENESS AND SIGNIFICANCE 73 i) Speculation and Expansion 73 ii) The Arrival of the Railway in Luton 77 iii) The Bute Street – Guildford Street Intersection 80 iv) The Development of Large Factories 80 v) Inter-war Developments 81 vi) The Second World War and after 82 PROPOSALS 86 i) Impact 87 HERITAGE AND CONSERVATION: CONCLUDING REMARKS 88 i) Future work 90 ii) Summary 91 ENDNOTES 93 APPENDIX 103 © ENGLISH HERITAGE 069 - 2011 INTRODUCTION This report provides a detailed Historic Area Assessment of the Plaiters’ Lea Conservation Area in Luton. This was established in 1991 – one of five Conservation Areas in the town – and is flanked by the train station on the north and the Arndale to the south (Figures 1-3). It contains the town’s most densely concentrated, and some of the best preserved, surviving elements of the hatting industry and related trades, as well as other industrial, commercial and residential components. The Conservation Area lies to the north of the historic core of Luton and it is clear that development and growth here was entirely contingent upon the health of the hatting industry – as the industry flourished so did the numbers and variety of buildings connected to it. The streets here – Barber’s Lane, Guildford Street, Bute Street and Cheapside, for example – mostly follow earlier routes but they were reconfigured to accommodate purpose- built factories, workshops and showrooms all related to the production, display and sale of hats. Indeed, ‘Plaiters’ Lea’ as a name, is a modern invention and part of a successful attempt to brand the heartland of hat production in the town and give it a focus in future urban and commercial regeneration. In this sense, the area now known as Plaiters’ Lea can be regarded as an artisanal quarter in the manner of the Birmingham Jewellery quarter or the Northampton Boot and Shoe quarter and despite degradation in the second half of the 20th century, and more recently, the surviving fabric within the Conservation Area retains a level of integrity and coherence that is both significant and visually impressive. By any measure, Luton’s industrial legacy is remarkable, dominated by the development of the Vauxhall car plant to the east of the town centre from 1905, but this was built on the strength of engineering success that had already been created by the industry for which Luton became famous – hat making. It is apparent that within the Conservation Area development and growth took place over a very short period of time – the period between 1860 and 1880 witnessing the most intensive and widespread development. This may well be associated with the establishment of Luton’s first railway station at the relatively late date of 1858 which greatly improved upon the poor existing transport links. An earlier proposal by George Stephenson for the Leighton Buzzard line to loop south-east through Luton and on to London wasn’t realised due to local objections about destruction of the ‘Great Moor’. Indeed, at a potential shareholders meeting at the George Hotel on 11th May 1844, Stephenson left ‘in a very bad mood, vowing that Luton would not have the railway as long as he lived’.1 Stephenson’s line was built in 1848 but terminated at Dunstable and consequently, Luton’s residents seeking train travel were obliged to go by coach to Watford and then by train to London. A decade later £20,000 was raised in order to build a rail connection to Dunstable but the site of the station was much disputed: eventually, a suitable site at the northern end of Bute Street was selected. The maiden journey to Dunstable on 3rd May 1858 was notable in that the train, with 22 carriages, broke down and many passengers had to walk home. The extension to Welwyn, which created a link to London via Hatfield, was completed in 1860 and the Dunstable, Luton and Welwyn Railway later became part of the Great Northern Company. In 1862 the Midland Railway started to develop its own line through Luton to London with © ENGLISH HERITAGE 1 069 - 2011 construction moving apace and a full passenger service to the capital was in operation by 13th July 1868. This meant that there were excellent transport links in place for both finished goods and raw materials and that buyers’ and wholesalers’ agents could visit the town regularly and easily.